Object

Signed Colombia Recertification Paper

Will holds this signed paper document aloft in the Senior Staff cabin of Air Force One, thrusting it into the conversation as proof of procedural doom. Bartlet glares at it in frustration while Garcia Larco watches tensely. The single sheet carries the President's signature but demands delivery by midnight to block automatic recertification of Colombia; its absence from the right hands seals the policy outcome amid landing scares and crises.

2 appearances

Purpose

Triggers manual recertification of Colombia for U.S. policy compliance if delivered by midnight deadline

Significance

Strips Bartlet of leverage against Colombian cartels by enforcing automatic recertification through bureaucratic deadline, fueling his outburst and exposing limits of executive power

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S4E19 · Angel Maintenance

Recertified by the Book: Bureaucracy as a Political Straitjacket

The 'signed Colombia recertification paper' functions as the concrete procedural linchpin: its timely delivery (or absence) physically triggers whether the President can halt recertification. Will points to the paper/delivery rule as the reason the President cannot stop recertification, making the document the narrative hinge converting policy debate into administrative inevitability.

Before: Not in the President's hands aboard Air Force One; implied to be in the custody/route of the Counsel's Office and subject to a delivery deadline (midnight).

After: Still undelivered to the necessary recipient(s) — the procedural mechanism remains in place and automatic recertification will proceed.

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S4E19 · Angel Maintenance

Bartlet vs. Bureaucracy: The Impossible Decertification

The signed Colombia recertification paper is the concrete procedural trigger: Will cites the physical requirement that a signed sheet be delivered by midnight. The paper embodies the bureaucratic mechanism that will automatically recertify Colombia unless the correct delivery interrupts the process.

Before: In the Senior Staff cabin (held or in the possession of staff, referred to as 'the actual signed paper'), not yet delivered to the Counsel's Office or wherever the rule requires.

After: Still in the staff cabin/with White House staff and effectively undelivered before the deadline within the scene; its existence neutralizes the President's intended leverage.

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